Hello! Competition in the green energy space is heating up between the European Union, United States and China this week, as the EU presents its "Green Deal Industrial Plan" set to rival America's Inflation Reduction Act. And want to know how to use fly larvae to help grow fruit? Then keep on scrolling for today's ESG Spotlight to learn more. The European Union is aiming to enact up to five trade deals in record time to ensure its future as a clean tech leader, by securing supplies of key raw materials, increasing markets for green exports and reducing its reliance on China. The five deals being targeted could be worth about 10 billion euros ($10.9 billion) to the EU and help cement its market share and influence in the Americas and Asia-Pacific region, according to Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of trade think tank ECIPE. |
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European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attend a meeting between Europe-wide employers' and workers' unions and industry bodies in Brussels, Belgium, October 19, 2022. |
The European Commission will not propose any new joint EU borrowing when it presents ideas on how to support Europe's green industry facing Chinese and U.S. competition, a draft of its "Green Deal Industrial Plan" showed. Instead, the draft seen by Reuters offers to repurpose some of the money the EU has already agreed to raise jointly for its post-coronavirus pandemic recovery fund. It will also loosen state aid rules to allow governments to support their firms more. European funding for the green industry – makers of wind turbines, solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles or hydrogen – has become an issue after the United States offered $369 billion of subsidies largely for manufacturers based in North America, threatening to lure companies away from Europe. But North America's renewables boon has some hurdles to overcome, as solar energy contract prices in the United States have soared by a third over the past year as project developers have struggled to get imported panels, according to a report by data company LevelTen Energy. Fourth-quarter prices on solar contracts, known as power purchase agreements (PPAs), were up 33.3% on a year before and 8.2% on the previous quarter, according to LevelTen Energy's quarterly index. The supply chain constraints have dampened the benefits for solar developers of President Joe Biden's landmark climate change law, which late last year extended tax credits for renewable energy projects. |
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People walk near The Shard building, owned by the State of Qatar, in London, Britain, November 26, 2022. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls |
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- An investor group committed to climate change and controlling $11 trillion in assets has banned members from counting carbon removal schemes towards their emissions reduction targets before 2030, amid increasing scrutiny of the fast-growing market for carbon offsets.
- A second nationwide strike disrupted French electricity production, public transport and schools, as workers protested against the government's plans to make people work longer before retirement.
- Despite Morocco recognizing Amazigh as an official language, with its distinctive script printed onto road signs and government buildings, it is barely taught in schools.
- Faced with a tight labor market and a shortage of workers with key software engineering skills, some German companies are looking at thousands of layoffs in Silicon Valley as an opportunity to recruit top talent.
- Breakingviews: Now that Western allies are supplying tanks to Ukraine, why not also ramp up sanctions on Russian oil and gas? Because doing so would carry big economic risks – and that could undermine Western willingness to continue its vital military support for Kyiv, says Hugo Dixon, commentator-at-large for Reuters.
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Jamie Coats, CEO of U.S.-based data company Wise Responder and co-founder of UK-based non-profit SOPHIA Oxford, on the imperative to "double down" on climate change goals by linking Poverty Zero and Net Zero targets: "The mandates of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Agreement are unambiguous, and time is not on our side. "If we want to achieve climate goals, then we must combine Net Zero and Poverty Zero targets. For elected governments, the promise of poverty reduction requires access to affordable energy for citizens. Without this, you get standoffs like "Yellow Jacket" protests in France or street blockades in Panama. "To get this right, governments need to "double down" on climate justice, developing plans with sufficient green energy pathways that reduce both poverty and carbon emissions. "During the transition, trade-offs between poverty and emission reductions will happen; just look at the UK's willingness to fire up coal power stations, if needed, to stave off power cuts. Such trade-offs should be done in the context of planning that combines the broad adoption of poverty reduction goals with decreased emissions targets. "For this to work, we need to cultivate popular backing of climate goals that enjoin developed and emerging economies to simultaneously pursue Poverty Zero and Net Zero targets. Anything short of this jeopardizes our efforts to halt climate change." |
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Graphic by Reuters Global Energy Transition Columnist, Gavin Maguire. Published Jan. 31. |
Germany's power producers have aggressively ramped up power from intermittent renewable sources, with solar and wind generation totals both rising by more than 50% since 2015. Over the same period, power firms boosted use of cleaner-burning natural gas from 10% to 16.5%, reducing the country's overall power sector emissions in the process. |
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| A handful of Black Soldier Fly larvae, photographed in Malaysia in 2020. Nutrition Technologies/Handout via REUTERS |
Have you ever wondered how to help fruit grow using fly larvae? Well, Malaysia's Nutrition Technologies produces "soil conditioner" from frass – the waste and skin of Black Soldier Fly larvae. And the new climate law in the United States has seen a rise in virtual power plants, or VPPs – click below for a brief explainer on this latest green tech. |
Nutrition Technologies, which started in 2015, sells an average of 200 tonnes of frass monthly in Malaysia, mainly to farmers who apply it to leafy greens, cucumbers and fruit, said Martin Zorrilla, the company's chief technology officer. Composted frass led to a 12% increase in plant-nourishing soil organic matter, something that otherwise declines over time, according to the company's research. While most Malaysian fertilizer producers now sell frass, volumes are still too low to draw the attention of global agriculture companies, Zorrilla said. "Ultimately, soil is a living system, which is one reason it takes natural processes so long to build soil and why it is so easy to lose it," he said. |
Solar panels create electricity on the roof of a house in Rockport, Massachusetts, U.S., June 6, 2022. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Brian Snyder |
Bundled together by the hundreds or thousands, solar panels and home batteries can serve as a critical tool: they can be called on to supply vast amounts of power when grid supplies are stretched or store it when there is more solar and wind power than needed. When used this way, they are called virtual power plants, or VPPs. Energy experts say they are key to reducing the power industry's dependence on climate-damaging fossil fuels as the nation moves toward electrifying transportation, buildings and industrial sectors. Investment in these so-called distributed energy resources is forecast to eclipse $110 billion between 2020 and 2025, according to research firm Wood Mackenzie. |
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"No longer are ESG policies sitting in the back office of businesses. But regulators are increasingly becoming wise to the practice of 'greenwashing' by companies, and they will have a focused eye on this, pushing to improve transparency related to ESG." Eugenie Casier, governance, risk and compliance director at UK-based regulatory technology firm Clausematch |
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- Feb. 1 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will present a "communication" detailing the EU's "Green Deal Industrial Plan".
- Feb. 1, Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland and parts of the North Island brace for further flooding with more heavy rain predicted.
- Feb. 1, England: Britain's Public and Commercial Services union has said 100,000 of its members across 124 government departments, including border force staff and driving examiners, will take strike action in a dispute over pay, pensions and job security.
- Feb.1 – March 31, Paris, France: Eleven life-size gorilla and bear statues by the French artist Michel Bassompierre are displayed around the Haussmann district in central Paris, which aims to raise awareness about animals under threat of disappearing.
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